Political parties asked not to hurt the business climate through unnecessary protests, Govt transformed bankrupting country into a vibrant economy in short span, Decision not to merge SME Bank into NBP lauded.

April 25, 2016

President Pakistan Businessmen and Intellectuals Forum (PBIF), President AKIA, Senior Vice Chairman of the Businessmen Panel of FPCCI and former provincial minister Mian Zahid Hussain urged the political parties not to hurt the business climate through unnecessary protests.

Economy is taking off but some politicians are bent upon crashing it getting benefit of the Panama Leaks, he said.

Mian Zahid Hussain said that country cannot afford any turmoil therefore the issue of Panama Leaks should be left to Supreme Court and other investigation institutions, and the issue of term of reference (TOR) should be resolved through serious dialogues while political instability should be avoided.

He said those who are bent upon destabilising government should remember that Pakistan was on the brink of default in 2013 as we had foreign exchange reserves worth six billion dollars and many global institutions had stopped business with Pakistan terming it a sinking boat.

At that time the budget deficit was 8.5 percent which is now at 4.3 percent backed by forex reserves over US$ 20 billion. Twenty-two credible institutions have lauded the current economic policies, China has started investing billions while many countries are mulling massive investments, he added.

Mian Zahid Hussain said that tax collections have jumped from 1944 billion rupees to 3100 billion while most of the SROs for the elite inflicting losses to the tune of Rs300 billion have been withdrawn. The rest will be withdrawn in the upcoming budget, he informed.

Thirty three thousand cases of refund have been cleared while government is planning to clear rest of the refund cases before the budget, he said.

In 2013 Pakistan was 44^th economy while now it is poised to become 18^th largest economy in few years as predicted by the international experts.

He lauded the decision of the government not to merge SME bank into National Bank of Pakistan and keep it to fund SMEs after revival as the critical SME sector needs backing which will pave the way for national development.